Prelude to War
by sailorgreywolf
Summary: A quick PruAus oneshot I wrote. Austria is calling up on a treaty agreement and he finds himself in a more compromising position than he expected to be when he starts blurting out his feelings to his former rival. Crappy summery...just read it. No real lemons, but getting close to it. PruAus is the only pairing.


_A/N: I blame this oneshot on taking European History, it has made me ship a ton of characters that I never did before.  
Just for some very necessary background: This is set right before WWI when Germany __encouraged Austria to start the war_

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Austria walked down the hallway fiddling with one of the buttons on his jacket, which was one of his many nervous twitches. He had not expected to be so nervous about this, it was simply asking for a contract to be honored. He was only talking to Prussia, which shouldn't have been a problem, but there was something about it that was causing him to wish he could have just talked to Germany. But, alas, he had no choice in the matter. He turned the final corner, feeling a kind of rising anxiety that he certainly shouldn't be feeling within his own house. He stopped fidgeting with the button and instead used the same hand to push his glasses up to the bridge of his nose.

He took a deep breath to steady himself and then he pushed open the door. The room that Prussia was waiting in was the room that also housed the grand piano. The albino who was causing Austria such strange anxiety had his back to the door and was looking out of one of the windows. He looked staggeringly handsome and clean cut, every white hair was in perfect military order. He was wearing a dress uniform, which was also in immaculate condition. Austria decided that the best course of action was to see what Prussia was looking at so intently instead of trying to start a conversation. Austria took a couple measured steps and joined the other man by the window.

He followed the line of the red eyes and saw what they were fixed on. Below on the street, a car was pulling up to the curb. When it stopped, the door opened and Germany stepped out with a quick spring in his step. A warm smile was plastered across the young man's face. Austria looked back to Prussia's face, which was lit up by a small bright smile. The albino spoke, seemingly to himself, "Ludwig does love those new machines." There was something about the statement, and indeed the smile, which made Austria's heart beat very fast indeed. It was glowing, proud, paternal, all words that Austria hadn't thought he could associate with Prussia. Proud was the only one that had ever seemed applicable, but this was a different kind of pride. It wasn't pride in himself or his own triumphs; it was pride in someone else. But more importantly, at least in Austria's view of it, all the new emotions showed a depth that he had never seen in Prussia before.

Before he could stop himself, Austria said, "It's admirable what you did for him." Prussia's head snapped up and turned towards Austria, "What are you talking about?" Austria had not intended to say what he did and now he was being asked to explain it. The words had escaped after being bottled up since the end of the Franco-Prussian war, since Germany had become a country. It had been the single most selfless thing Austria had ever witnessed a country do and it had come from the one that he had always thought of as the most selfish.

Austria had already made the mistake of saying it, he knew he couldn't go back, "I think it's an admirable thing that you did. When you said you wanted to unify all the Germanic states, I thought you meant that you wanted to bring them all under your control. I thought you meant that you wanted to unify them under the Prussian flag." He stopped for a second to collect his thoughts and also to gauge the other's reaction. Prussia's eyes had gone wide as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing. The albino remained mercifully silent, so Austria forged onwards, even though he felt less than confident about what he was saying, "But you stepped down when you got what you wanted. You let your little brother have the land, the people, and the name. I never thought you, of all people, would give up everything you worked so hard for."

He stopped short again, trying to keep the torrent of stupid words from spilling out. Babbling was not in Austria's nature, but something different was blooming in his chest. He had felt attracted to Prussia's unique beauty for a long time, but now that feeling of attraction was mixing with his new admiration and becoming a softer, warmer feeling. It was an insufferable feeling that made him, a man who was the personification of a vast empire, feel weak. It was this very same feeling that had him losing his composure and spilling his admirations out like this. He feared that Prussia would turn away in the same hostile way he always had. Austria clenched one of his free hands into a fist while he waited for the inevitable reply.

Prussia looked back out the window and pointed down, "You need only look down there to understand why I did it. Look at that smile; look at that light. I would kill to protect that light." He turned away again and looked directly into Austria's eyes. The deep red was full of molten emotion, "And I would kill anyone who sought to put that light out." Austria felt himself falling into those dark red eyes, feeling the emotions spill over. In that moment, he found an understanding with Prussia. He saw something that tied them together.

His lips seemed to move without his consent or knowledge and form words that Austria did not mean to say, "You're a good man, you know." However much he hadn't meant to say them, Austria knew the words were quite true. He couldn't help but see Prussia as a man now. Before he had seemed to be a child, a selfish child who wanted nothing but advancement. Austria had resented that child, but now he could see the man who had grown out of it. This was not remotely close to what he had asked the German brothers to come here to discuss, but the situation could not be stopped. Prussia spoke as though he had not heard the admission that sounded to Austria too much like a confession, "We were like that once, optimistic and young. Do you remember it, Roderich?" Austria simply nodded, thinking that he knew what time Prussia was talking about. It had been a long time ago for both of them.

Prussia continued, "I remember the Enlightenment well. We were so young then." There was nostalgia in his voice. It was a nostalgia that Austria could relate to. During the Enlightenment, Austria had been an undisputed empire, and now he was coming apart at the seams. Every little nationalistic divide was capable of bringing him down and Austria was hardly holding himself together. He responded, "Of course I remember it, Gilbert. How could I not? I had Maria Theresa and Franz Joseph; you had Friedrich the Great." Prussia turned away from the window and started to walk around the room, "It's more than that. Those were the best years of our lives and we didn't even know it."

He stopped at the piano and thumbed through the sheet music that Austria had left out. Austria watched with a sense of careful curiosity. He didn't know what Prussia was doing, but he was perfectly willing to wait for the response. The albino looked back up at Austria and said, "Schubert?" Austria nodded, unsure why his choice of composer was important, "I happen to like Schubert." Prussia nodded and a slight smile appeared on his face again, "I would expect that you do, he was one of your Romantics. But this is exactly my point, we surround ourselves with the artifacts of the past." Austria admitted the truth of the words to himself. He did enjoy reminding himself with music and paintings of the past, but that was only natural considering how old he was. The past was more comforting than the present and in someway, Prussia shared that past. That past was the mysterious thing that held them together.

Prussia finished his circle around the room and walked back to the window next to Austria. He looked back out the window, "My point is that we are the past. Ludwig is the future. He is where we were centuries ago. Why should I hold him back, when he has the youthful fervor that I could only dream of now?" Austria finally had a response to this, "Do you really miss the days when we were constantly enemies?" He didn't add the obvious second question: Do you still hate me? If the answer to that were affirmative, it would utterly crush Austria. For so long he had not bothered to think about how Prussia felt about them But, now that they were here so close together, Austria couldn't stand the thought that Prussia may still despise him.

It was not comforting when the albino started to laugh. Austria took a reflexive step backwards in response to the laughter, but he was stopped by Prussia's hand, which was quite suddenly on his shoulder. Austria could feel the heat of the skin through his jacket and his shirt. The heat seemed to spread with supernatural speed, going through his whole body. Prussia had touched him before, why did this one feel so different to him?

The albino spoke with the laughter still in his voice, "I miss the impunity with which we used to be able to clash. No complications, just you and me going at it. But, do I miss being at odds with you?" He put his other hand on Austria's other shoulder, so that they were looking directly at each other. Prussia's voice was so full of confidence, but when he spoke again it was soft, "Of course I don't miss that." The Austrian's heart started racing in his ears, beyond his own control. He half-hoped that it would stop so he could take some control of this conversation. Austria couldn't decide whether he wanted to close the distance between them or if he wanted to pull away to finally get to the business at hand.

He went with the latter instinct and stepped backwards, away from the albino's hands. The emotions were too confusing, too compromising. Austria couldn't stand turning to putty in someone else's hands, especially when that someone was Prussia. He said, trying to change the subject, "Your Kaiser certainly seems fond of your brother." Prussia's warm smile suddenly dropped, replaced by a scowl, "Wilhelm is not my Kaiser." The words were delivered in a growl, far more aggressive than Austria expected. It had been a statement simply to change the subject away from the volatile feelings between them. Austria had not intended to provoke Prussia's anger, but he had.

A second of silence passed where Austria mused over the anger. As he thought about it, Austria stumbled upon a reason for it, one he should have seen before, "Did you disown him because he fired Bismarck?" Prussia scoffed, "He disowned me. He chose to reject everything I laid down to help guide my brother. If he is good for Ludwig, I will eventually forgive him." Prussia shifted his weight and looked directly back at Austria.

But the subject was very sore for Austria as well, and he bitterly said, "At least you still have your dynasty. Wilhelm II is still a Hohenzollern." Prussia took a step towards Austria, clearly becoming more confrontational, "What do you mean by that?" But now Austria could take the offensive, he had finally swung the conversation around to the subject he had called Prussia here to discuss. He took a step to match Prussia's and said, "I mean that you can still keep your dynasty alive. You know what happened to mine." As he became more agitated, Austria's voice got progressively louder, "My last hope, Franz Ferdinand, was slain by some Serbian coward. The Hapsburgs are at a dead end and there is nothing I can do about it!" This was the affront that stung most keenly for Austria and the one he desperately wanted to avenge. When a country had been ruled by a single family for centuries, they started to feel extremely protective of every single member of the family. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand had felt to Austria like the murder of a very close blood relative. Thus far, he had offered an ultimatum to Serbia, but he wanted far more. He wanted justice.

Prussia directly addressed this, "So, what are you going to do about it? Don't be a coward, Roderich. You have the military power, now show Serbia what you do with nationalists." Austria looked down at the ground for a second and braced himself to say what he had been trying to say through the whole encounter. When he looked back up at Prussia's red eyes, he said, "If I go to war with Serbia, France and Russia will both intervene. I can't take that much war by myself. Will you and your brother back me?" The other responded immediately and without any apparent reservations, "Of course."

He turned to look back out the window. On the sidewalk below, Germany had struck up a conversation with a mortal, apparently talking about automobiles. Prussia spoke still facing the window, "Ludwig could use a good war to prove himself anyway." Again, Prussia turned back towards Austria. A mischievous smirk was the only warning that Austria got before the other reached out and put his hand gently under his chin. Prussia's white thumb ran softly over Austria's lower lip while the Prussian man said, "And I wouldn't want to leave you out in the cold." This seemingly romantic gesture made Austria's stomach start to flutter uncomfortably. His rebellious heart started racing again, making it hard to think straight. He had gotten the answer he wanted, but he didn't feel happy. Austria wanted to get either a full commitment or a full rejection from Prussia just to silence the unspoken sexual tension between them.

Anger bubbled up from the bitterness in his gut and he pushed himself away from Prussia for the second time. Austria felt a strange stinging in the corners of his eyes as he said, "Verdammit, Gilbert! Don't tease me!" This struck a chord somewhere inside of the albino. Without any warning, he grabbed hold of Austria's wrist and pulled aggressively. The brunette hardly found it possible to resist, they were very close together before he could even catch his breath to say another word. Prussia said, "Teasing? I have never teased you, Schatz. Never." He raised the hand that wasn't occupied with Austria's wrist and ran it down the side of Austria's face.

The albino kept speaking in the same, deeper aggressively possessive voice, "This is not teasing; letting someone want you and then turning away is teasing. What you have done to me is teasing, Schatz." Austria struggled to find the words to respond, but he couldn't. He had thought Prussia didn't have any feelings toward him, and he didn't know how to respond to this sudden change. He said, his voice weak, "I had no idea…" Prussia used his hold on the other's wrist to pull him even closer. Their chests were now pressed together and Austria felt like this position was stiflingly hot. It felt to him like there weren't layers of cloth between them and there was nothing but shared body heat.

Prussia took advantage of the closeness and his hand on Austria's face to pull the other man into a kiss. When their lips met, all of Austria's ideas about resisting fell away. He had wanted this for, if he was honest with himself, at least a century, why should he fight back now? Their lips meshed together perfectly. Prussia planted a small nip on Austria's lower lip. Austria felt like he was melting as Prussia's hand released his wrist and wrapped itself around his waist. Another, more aggressive, nip on his lower lip finally prompted Austria to open his mouth and let in the other's tongue. Austria felt the albino's tongue exploring every part of his mouth, with no resistance from his own eager tongue. An unbidden moan was released from Austria's throat, but he no longer cared. Austria felt Prussia's hand move still lower so that it was now pressing their lower bodies together. Without thinking about it, Austria started to grind against the other man.

This was a mistake because Prussia immediately disengaged their lips and took a small step backwards. Austria made a whining noise in the back of his throat, and desperately looked up at Prussia for an explanation. However, Prussia looked away from him and back out the window that they were still standing right next to. Austria was momentarily baffled until Prussia said, "Thank God, Ludwig wasn't watching that. He doesn't need to see me doing anything quite that obscene." Austria took another breath to calm his nerves and then grabbed Prussia's wrist, which captured the albino's attention. The only words he could manage were, "Bitte gib mir mehr." It was a desperate plea, and it went unanswered.

Prussia jerked his hand out of Austria's grasp and scornfully said, "Don't be soft. You have a war, not an affair, to start. I've already given you your answer, so our work here is done." With that, the albino ran one hand over his white hair to sweep it back into perfect order. Austria's heart, which had finally calmed to what seemed like a semi-normal speed, started to sink as he realized that Prussia was getting ready to leave the room. He, even after all of anxiety, just wanted to keep Prussia in the room. Beyond that, he wanted to keep Prussia here for the night. He took a quick step towards the albino, who had been walking away, "Where are you going, Gil?" Prussia turned around and said with that beautiful paternal smile, "I must get Ludwig home. Too much socialization is not good for a boy his age." Austria nodded, he couldn't argue with that reasoning even thought he wanted to. He couldn't do anything but watch as the albino walked out of the room.

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_A/N: I have finally written PruAus, I never thought I would do that! Anyway, this isn't supposed to fit into the time line of Folie a deux, which is why it is a separate oneshot. But, it is emotionally accurate for Folie a deux.  
PLEASE review! It's so hard to get reviews on oneshots_


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